GÉANT – Frequently asked questions

About the Network

What is GÉANT?

GÉANT is the third generation of the GÉANT network, and successor to GÉANT2. Designed and built on behalf of a consortium of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), with funding support from the European Commission as part of its 7th Framework Programme, the GÉANT network provides a vital research infrastructure as well as the necessary resources for information technology and telecommunications development.

Why is GÉANT needed? Without high-speed research networks like GÉANT, many research projects and innovative scientific studies at the forefront of their fields would simply not be possible. Europe is home to the largest and most diverse group of academic and scientific researchers in the world. An extraordinary amount of data is collectively produced every month and is shared between researchers in different countries. It is important that they can work together and share data in real time. Work at the frontier of research increasingly depends on large scale databanks and massive processing power to deal with problems such as decoding genetic information, simulating climate change and energy demands, or predicting and managing the spread of epidemics. Commercial Internet technology is not as efficient and does not deliver service availability levels required by current and future projects. Moreover, because GÉANT uses switched and routed technology, it is paving the way for next generation, high performance, cost-effective communication networks.

Who benefits from GÉANT? High-speed Internet services have not only improved the cost-effectiveness of research, but have fundamentally transformed the way it is carried out, allowing researchers located in different parts of Europe and around the globe to co-operate as if they were on the same campus. Thanks to GÉANT, the results of scientific experiments, such as radio astronomic observations, can be made available instantly, rather than three weeks later. GÉANT also provides access to remote resources that are sometimes too costly for a single country to develop, such as telescopes that are located in remote places.

Users from a wide variety of disciplines can utilise GÉANT to facilitate ground breaking research that can bring real benefit to society. From big Science users seeking answers about our universe, to medical research seeking cures for diseases across the world; and from research into understanding and predicting climate change, to communication providing support for natural disasters - the diversity of user and project applications is immense.

Which countries are GÉANT partners and which countries receive GÉANT connectivity? The network and associated services comprise the GÉANT (GN3plus) project, a collaborative effort comprising 40 project partners: 37 European NRENs, DANTE, TERENA and NORDUnet (representing the 5 Nordic countries). GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe's NRENs

GÉANT partner NRENs and countries:

ACOnet

Austria

UoB / AMRES

Serbia

ARNES

Slovenia

ASNET-AM

Armenia

AzRENA

Azerbaijan

BASNET

Belarus

Belnet

Belgium

BREN

Bulgaria

CARNet

Croatia

CESNET

Czech Republic

CyNet

Cyprus

DFN

Germany

EENet

Estonia

FCCN

Portugal

GARR

Italy

GRENA

Georgia

GRNET

Greece

HEAnet

Ireland

IUCC

Israel

Janet

UK

LITNET

Lithuania

MARnet

Macedonia

MREN

Montenegro

NIIFI

Hungary

NORDUnet

5 Nordic countries

Poland

PSNC

PRedIRIS

Spain

RENAM

Moldova

RENATER

France

RESTENA

Luxembourg

RoEduNet

Romania

SANET

Slovakia

SigmaNet

Latvia

SURFnet

Netherlands

SWITCH

Switzerland

ULAKBIM

Turkey

UoM

Malta

URAN

Ukraine

Which other world regions are connected to GÉANT? GÉANT connects:

the Mediterranean countries via EUMEDCONNECT3

the Balkans via SEEREN

Central Asia via SILK/OCCASION and soon CAREN

Black Sea via BSI

Asia via TEIN3

Latin America via ALICE2

China via ORIENT

Japan via New York

South Africa via a dedicated high speed link and the UbuntuNet Alliance

African countries

The US and Canada through a long-standing trans-Atlantic partnership

Are there further regions to connect to GÉANT? CAREN (Central Asian Research and Education Network) - This network will connect the countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A feasibility study is also underway in sub-Saharan Africa.

About the Project

What is the GÉANT project? The GÉANT (or GN3plus) project is the EC project that funds the GÉANT network. The GÉANT project advances all aspects of European research and education networking. This encompasses the network itself, a range of network support and access services for users, initiatives to address the digital divide of research and education networking around Europe, and technological research to ensure GÉANT continues to be at the forefront of networking on a global scale.

Funding and the EC

How is GÉANT funded? GÉANT is co-funded by the EU’s 7th Research & Development Framework Programme. Further funding is provided by the project’s NREN partners. The overall co-ordination and management of the project is performed by DANTE on behalf of the NRENs and the EC.

Why is the EC involved? Besides the important role it plays in bringing national academic Internet networks together, EC funding is needed to upgrade Europe’s research and education networking infrastructure, boosting Europe’s research competitiveness. EC-funding enabled GÉANT to stay at the forefront of research networking technology.

What is FP7? The EC’s Seventh Framework programme (FP7) is where all research-related EU initiatives are classified, including GÉANT. Projects within FP7 play a crucial role in reaching the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment in Europe.

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